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Go Hard; Go Easy; But Don’t Go In-Between

Friday’s Workout (CAP)
Complete as many rounds as possible in 18 minutes of:
6 DH Pull ups
Walking Lunges, across the gym and back (45/25)
6 Reverse burpees
OH Walking Lunges, across the gym and back
6 Push ups
OH Walking Lunges, across the gym and back

…and coming Monday (CAP)
Turkish Get Up skill work
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Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
10 Front Squats (65/45)
20 Push Press
30 DB V-twist (25/15) (one-count)“The black hole” is Seiler’s term for a nightmare training zone that can be hard to resist—an enjoyable, moderately taxing workout intensity that falls somewhere between a piece-of-cake recovery pace and a hellishly intense interval session. It’s vigorous but not aerobically painful. Excerpt from Outside Magazine. To read the rest of the article, click here.

Does the black hole sound familiar to you? I know it well… because prior to CrossFit, I found myself in it, most of the time. I remember my endurance training back then… weeks in which I’d ride 150 miles, run 40 and kayak another 10. Each time I went out, unless I was specifically doing running intervals at the track, I would push myself, moderately hard. For me, this was a pace that usually meant a little bit of pain, but one that I could maintain for at least 40-60 minutes. I really never had a “go easy gear,” unless I was recovering immediately after a race. When I was in this go moderately hard gear, it felt like I was pushing myself pretty hard, and found myself thinking that it would lead to improvements in my speed, stamina endurance.

Little did I know it, but I was in the ‘Black Hole.’ My progress stalled, and I started to plateau. When I started CrossFitting, it was a radical shift from this moderately hard pace all the time, to high intensity at most times followed by workouts (or rest days) of complete low intensity. This, as it turned out, lead to big improvements in my speed, endurance, and stamina (among other things). With these sorts of results and improvements, you’d think that I’d easily be able to keep myself out the Black Hole. Nope. Logically I know that I need to avoid it like the plague, however, my mind plays tricks on me, and suckers me in to going ‘moderately hard’ on days when I should be recovering easy, or pushing super hard.

Want a really great chance for a breakthrough? Go hard, or go easy, but don’t go in-between.